E-Paper
Man duped of Rs 21.2 lakh, four Nigerians among five arrested
A complaint in the matter was lodged by retired Indian Air Force official who currently works for a private company. The woman approached the complainant through a social media app called TanTan, according to his complaint.
Four Nigerian nationals were among five people arrested for duping a man from Pune of Rs 21,23,325 over a false business venture of herbal hair oil.
A complaint in the matter was lodged by retired Indian Air Force official who currently works for a private company. The woman approached the complainant through a social media app called TanTan, according to his complaint.
“She convinced him to buy the herbal oil that she claimed had medicinal value. After buying a certain amount, she promised the complainant that she will help him sell the oil to companies at double prices,” said police inspector Santosh Barge of the cybercrime cell who is investigating the case.
A case under Sections 419 (personation) and 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code along with Sections 66(c), 66(d) of the Information Technology Act was registered at the cyber police station of Pune.
The complaint approached the police in May when he realised that the oil they were selling was fake. By then he had transferred Rs 21,23,325 through multiple transactions to multiple bank accounts.
The woman was identified as Radha Nelson Caston (37), a resident of Juhu Mumbai. The woman was arrested on June 14 by the cybercrime cell officials who set a trap near Wakad bridge when she came to deliver the oil sample to the complainant, according to the police.
Based on the information provided by the woman, the four men were arrested from Sector 34 of Kharghar in Navi Mumbai on June 15.
The five arrested were identified as Guede Francis (38), a native of Ivory Coast; Okoko Okara Nwamamah (38); Alex Ilechukwu Arinze (33); and Kalu Ikechukwu (27), all natives of Nigeria.
During the search of their house in Kharghar, 2 laptops, 16 mobile phones, one tablet computer, 5 fake oil bottles, 1 debit card, and cash worth Rs 30,000 were seized by police.
A similar modus operandi was used to dupe a real estate businessman in Pune of Rs 38.5lakh in the month of May.
The 48-year-old complainant from Mukundnagar area of Pune was approached by a woman through Facebook. She offered him a business deal involving a certain kind of oil required for vaccine-related research by an American laboratory. The woman said she worked for a California-based company that made vaccines for humans as well as animals.
The police are investigating whether the two cases are related.
